This invention relates to electronic learning aids and teaching machines, and particularly, to an electronic instructional apparatus which is capable of producing audible presentations and which is suitable for use by an operator who is in a preliterate stage of development, such as a preschool age child. The apparatus according to the present invention utilizes response association training in exercises involving spelling, counting and object and color identification.
Electronic instructional apparatus are well known in the prior art. These apparatus are primarily devoted to the instruction of mathematical and spelling skills through the utilization of visual displays which are presented to the child. Several prior art devices operated by presenting upon a visual display screen a mathematical operation to be solved or performed by the operator, through inputting the correct response into the apparatus through a keyboard. Other forms of prior art devices utilize visual displays and visual aids such as picture books to present questions or spelling exercises to the operator of the apparatus. Many of these types of prior art devices do not incorporate speech systhesis features for asking questions or otherwise soliciting responses from the child operator via a synthesized human voice thus often requiring that the child operator have at least minimal reading skills, or alternatively, that the child be assisted in using the apparatus by another individual, often the parent.
An additional prior art device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,260 issued to Paul S. Breedlove and James H. Moore and assigned to Texas Instruments, Incorporated. The apparatus described therein is capable of making audible presentations to the operator, requiring the operator to provide a response through a keyboard forming part of the apparatus. The apparatus is further capable of operating in a plurality of modes of operation which require the operator to perform a number of different types of spelling and associational exercises. Unfortunately, however, many of these types of prior art devices have nevertheless required that the operator have a certain level of intelligence and coordination to operate the device, skills which may exceed that of the typical preliterate child of preschool age.
A potential disadvantage to such prior art devices is their reliance upon standard alpha-numeric keyboards as input devices. Typically, a preschool aged child is unable to effectively operate such a standard adult keyboard due to the young child's lack of coordination. Moreover, the prior art often utilized keyboards which are visually unstimulating to young children who accordingly may become tired of such prior art devices and thus not use and benefit from them.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an electronic instructional apparatus for a preschool aged, preliterate operator that is visually stimulating and easily useable by children of such age and development.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic instructional apparatus which provides questions and requests in a manner which the child may comprehend.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an input device which may be manipulated by young children who may lack fully developed coordinational skills and which simultaneously teaches spelling, counting and identification skills with developing the child's coordination.
It is another object of this invention to provide an electronic instructional apparatus which is capable of providing audible presentations of spelling, mathematical, and associational exercises to a preschool age operator.
It is yet another object of this invention that the instructional apparatus be capable of presenting questions or problems in a randomly selected manner, within each mode of operation.
It is another object of the instructional apparatus to provide that the operator present physical responses to audibly presented questions or statements.
It is another object of this invention to provide an instructional apparatus which provides positive audible reinforcement for the operator thereof.
It is another object of this invention to provide an instructional apparatus which provides responses to an operator corresponding to the correctness or incorrectness of the operator's responses to the questions or statements presented by the instructional apparatus.
It is yet still another object of this invention to provide an instructional apparatus which is portable and is durable and inexpensively constructed.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification and drawings.